418*7 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  ANTI-VIVISECTION  SOCIETY 

QUARTERLY. 

Vol  i.  April,  1896.  No.  3. 

Subscription  Per   Annum,   $1.00;   Single    Copy,   25   Cents. 

Entered  at  the  Boston,  Mass.  Poet-Office    as  second-class  mail  matter,  Jan.  14th,    '96 


IMPORTANT  CORRESPONDENCE 

WITH  

CANON    WILBBRFOROB 

VIVISECTION. 


WITH   PREFACE  BY 

ELLIOTT  PRESTON,  fl.  D., 

The  Vice-President  {also  Director)  of  "The  New  England  Anti-  Vivisection 
Society,"  U.S.A. 


PUBLISHED    BY 

THE  NEW  ENGLAND  ANTI-VIVISECTION   SOCIETY, 

179A  Tkemont  Street, 

Knickerbocker  Building,  Room  55, 

BOSTON,  MASS. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  ANTI-VIVISECTION  SOCIETY 

QUARTERLY. 

Vol  i.  April,  1896.  No.  3. 

Subscription  Per   Annum,   $1.00 ;    Single    Copy,   25    Cents. 

Entered  at  the  Boston,  Mass.  Post-Office    as  second-class  mail  matter,  Jan.  14th,    '98. 


IMPORTANT  CORRESPONDENCE 

WITH  

CANON    WILBBRPORCB 

ON 

VIVISECTION. 


WITH    PREFACE  BY 

ELLIOTT   PRESTON,  H.  D., 

The  Vice-President  {also  Director)  of  "The  New  England  Anti- Vivisection 
Society"  U.  S.  A. 


PUBLISHED    BY 

THE  NEW   ENGLAND  ANTI-VIVISECTION   SOCIETY, 

179A  Tremont  Street, 

Knickerbocker  Building,  Room  55, 

BOSTON,  MASS. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2012  with  funding  from 
Duke  University  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/importantcorrespOOwilb 


THE   NEW  ENGLAND   ANTI-VIVISECTION  SOCIETY 

QUARTERLY. 


Vol.  i. 


April,   li 


No.  3. 


\nfau  irg  (Bllxott  "BxtBtnn. 


ECENTLY,  1  have  been   honored  by  an  invitation  from 

(jVsjJ  )     rny  life-long  friend  and  most  able    co-laborer   in    the 

Anti-Vivisection  cause,  President  Philip    G.    Peabody, 

•  of  "The  New   England    Anti- Vivisection  Society,"   to 

contribute   a  brief  introduction  to  the  masterly  rejoinder 

of  Canon   Wilberforce,  addressed  to    Henry  Sewill 

(vivisector),  and  which  forms  the  body  of  this,  the 

current  issue  of  our  Quarterly. 

And  now  the  very  first  thought  which  occurs  to 
me  is  this, — the  woftder  of  it,  that  such  impassioned  denunciations  of 
the  arch-iniquity  of  all  time,  Vivisection,  should  ever  need  to  be  written  ! 
Dr.  Matthew  Woods,  one  of  the  editors  of  "The  Journal  of  Zoophily," 
strikes  at  the  root  of  the  whole  question  when  he  avers  that,  in  his  opin- 
ion, the  very  existence,  even,  of  a  future  civilized  society  hangs,  today, 
trembling  in  the  balance,  to  be  irrevocably  decided  by  the  complete  tri- 
umph or  total  annihilation  of  Vivisection,  that  most  barbarously  cruel 
abuse  of  Innocence  by  Guilt— of  eternal  Right  by  transitory  Might — 
which  the  most  brilliant  imagination  of  the  most  gifted  mind  can  conjure 
from  the  abyss  of  blackest  Hell ! 

In  perusing  the  following  able  presentation  of  the  horrors  of  this 
wholly  diabolical  practice,  as  set  forth  by  the  great  Churchman,  I  beg 
you  to  remember  that  no  one  possibly  can  loathe  the  soulless  wretches 
who  perpetrate  these  CRIMES  to  the  full  extent  which  their  guilt  would 
justify!  And  I  beg  you  to  also  remember  what  one  of  the  foremost 
among  them — an  arch-fiend  among  lesser  fiends — has  admitted  con- 


4  PREFACE. 

cerning  the  degree  of  torture  they  frequently  inflict:  this  "inhuman 
devil"  (as  Canon  Wilberforce  has  most  aptly  denominated  his  ilk),  has 
informed  his  shuddering  auditors  that  the  agony  vivisectors  inflict  is 
INFINITE! 

Think  of  that! — Ponder,  for  one  instant,  on  all  it  means!  "Infinite!" 
With  that  terrible  word  you  transcend  all  mortal  bounds  and  front  the 
awful  majesty  of  God,  Himself!  Watch  the  vivisector  while  he 
stretches  upon  the  torture-trough  man's  truest  friend  !  Cowardly  fiend  ! 
he  dare  not  seize  his  poor  victim  until  the  chloroform-sponge  has  de- 
prived him  of  Nature's  weapons  of  defense,  which  even  the  faithful 
dog  will  employ  against  a  poltroon  foe.  Once  securely  bound,  the 
anaesthesia  is  allowed  to  pass  off  and  the  hideous  deed  of  darkness  is 
begun.  This,  then  (stupefaction,  simply  while  being  secured),  is  all  the 
relief  the  wretched  animal  gets  from  the  anaesthesia  so  speciously 
claimed  to  have  been  induced  at  the  outset  of  nearly  every  experiment. 
With  a  truly  infernal  cunning,  this  human  monster  now  proceeds  to 
dissect  out  some  one  of  the  great  nerve-trunks,  and  then  (O  horror  in- 
conceivable !)  PASSES,  FOR  HOURS  TOGETHER,  A  CONTINUOUS  ELECTRIC  CUR- 
RENT   OVER     THAT    GREAT,    ISOLATED    NERVE,    AS    OVER    A    TELEGRAPH    WIRE  !  ! 

It  is  then  that  the  winged  agony  mounts  up,  up,  and  still  upward,  until 
(in  figurattve  speech)  it  may  be  said  to  reach  our  flaming  sun, — nor 
does  it  find  its  "infinite"  limit  there!  Upward  and  onward,  still  speeds 
that  supernal  pang!  What !  would  you  fetter  it,  drag  it  down,  limit  the 
illimitable P  Would  you  dwarf  it  to  the  pettiness  of  mere  dimension, 
scale  and  rule?  Nay,  not  so — for  it  is  INFINITE!  And,  behold!  it 
gains  the  awesome  altitude,  at  length,  which  marks  the  nearest  star — a 
blazing  sphere  of  light !  To  us  it  seems  a  tiny  point  of  twinkling  light ; 
to  thee — 0  speeding  pang  of  agony  unmeasured ! — a  blinding  sun,  of 
grand  and  matchless  glory !  Mayhap,  within  that  splendid  sphere  of 
God's  high  handiwork,  majestic  spirits  dwell — great  arch-angels,  who, 
hearing  that  dread  wail  ascend  from  earth,  may  deem  it  some  lost  soul 
and  bid  it  stay,  unwitting  of  the  doom  that,  in  all  space,  that  pain- 
winged  INFINITE,  from  earth,  may  know  no  pause  ! 

This  is  no  fancy,  no  false  imagining;  the  only  fault  is  this — my  colors 
are  too  dim!  To  truly  paint  THE  INFINITE  is  impossible.  Only 
remember  this  :  within  that  gloomy  "Hell  of  the  Innocents,"  the  vivi- 
sector's  laboratory,  is,  daily  and  hourly,  perpetrated  a  crime  against 
ETERNAL  JUSTICE — an  awesome  enormity — a  foul,  hideous  thing, 
beside  which  all  other  earthly  crimes  show,  by  comparison,  "as  white 
as  wool !"  For  ail  other  crimes  bear  some  errant  likeness  to  the  hu- 
man— Vivisection,  alone,  is  "infinite!"  We  trace,  upon  its  horrent, 
glowering  front,  no  faint  or  wavering  semblance  to  our.  at  best,  too 
poor  humanity!     Among  measurables,  it  is  the  one  immeasurable !     It 


PREFACE.  5 

is  a  thing  all — utterly — evil,  sponsored  by  the  Arch-Fiend  and  spawned 
by  incarnate  devils,  in  the  nethermost  Hell!  It  is  the  blighting  curse 
of  this,  the  fleeting  Present, — the  fearful  menace  of  a  Future,  yet 
unborn ! 

One  of  the  most  deeply  significant  phases  of  this  inexpressibly  sad, 
depressing  matter  is  the  profound  moral  perversion  which  has  appar- 
ently penetrated  and  permeated  the  entire  moral  personnel  of  these 
arrogant  hierophants  who  officiate  before  the  blood-dripping  altars  of 
"THE  NEW  PRIESTHOOD."  Here  they  offer  up.  to  their  Moloch 
deity,  not  alone  the  torn,  palpitating  bodies  of  their  dumb  victims,  but 
THE  INTEGRITY  OF  THEIR  OWN  SOULS!  It  has  recently 
transpired,  by  the  way,  that  several  notorious  vivisectors  in  this  State 
have  been  logically  convicted  of  the  most  obvious  falsehood  by  the 
evidence  supplied  by  their  own  contradictions. 

Another  glaring  instance  of  that  astounding  mendacity  which  seems 
almost  inseparable  from  the  practice  of  "  THE  COWARD  SCIENCE" 
is  afforded  by  a  recent  complete  exposure  of  the  flagrant  dishonesty  of 
acertain  official  connected  with  "Boston  University  School  of  Medi- 
cine." This  official  entered  into  a  correspondence,  of  the  most  pro- 
foundly damaging  character,  with  a  professed  cat-thief  (a  good  friend  of 
our  cause,  who  assumed  this  disguise  in  order  to  draw  this  miscreant 
on,-— which  he  did,  "with  a  vengeance.")  Later,  this  friend  gave  the 
entire  correspondence  to  the  Boston  "Record"  for  publication,  thus 
apparently  putting  the  University  into  the  most  disgraceful  of  all  pos- 
sible positions — that  of  a  great  Boston  medical  college  "dickering" 
with  a  self-confessed  cat- thief  regarding  the  precise' sum,  per  capita, 
which  it  should  pay  him  for  stolen  cats! 

Vivisectors  certainly  here  stand  revealed  in  no  very  flattering  light  as 
exponents  of  Exact  Truth,  however  brilliantly  they  may  shine  as  expo- 
nents of  Exact  Science,  or  in  the  more  familiar — probably  more  con- 
genial— role  of  professional  cat-carvers. 


A  GREAT,  UNPUNISHED  CRIME. 

Vivisection  is  the  blackest  crime  that  the  law  of  any  land   ever  let 
go  unpunished. 

The  agony  it  inflicts  upon  helpless  animals  is  so  appalling  that  the 
mere  knowledge  of  its  atrocity  has  darkened,  forever,  with  its  hideous, 
leprous  shadow,  the  sunshine  in  many  a  generous  and  noble  heart.  It 
has  destroyed,  in  many  a  breast,  the  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  just  and 


6  PREFACE. 

loving  God.  It  has,  for  more  than  one  lofty  spirit,  turned  to  gall  and 
wormwood  the  sparkling  wine  within  Life's  golden  chalice.  It  has 
aroused  in  many  a  manly,  many  a  womanly  breast,  a  storm  of  right- 
eous indignation,  and  it  has  evoked  many  a  stern  resolve  to  combat 
the  hideous  phantom  while  life  and  strength  remain. 

Many  have  turned  from  its  Gorgon  head  with  speechless  horror,  lest 
— like  Medusa's  potent  gaze —  it,  too,  might  freeze  the  palsied  wretch 
who  looked  on  it,  to  stone. 

All  honor  be  to  the  handful  of  gallan't  hearts  (among  whom  1  in  no 
wise  presume  to  rank  myself)- — "sentimental  anti-vivisectionists," 
Henry  Guy  Carleton  calls  them — who,  with  dauntless  courage,  have 
dared  to  face  this  hideous  "  Dweller  of  the  Threshold,"  and  gaze,  un- 
blanched,  into  those  dreadful  eyes. 

For  that  man  and  that  woman,  of  exalted  imagination  and  tender  heart, 
who  renounces  sunshine,  happiness,  and  alas!  too  often,  peace,  to 
enroll  themselves  beneath  the  spotless  ensign  of  our  Cause— to  fight, 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  through  weary,  thankless  years  for  the  dumb  and 
the  defenceless — for  them  be  the  reverent,  unspoken  homage  that  the 
heart  of  their  kind  has  ever  paid  unsullied  virtue,  since  Socrates 
drained  the  hemlock-bowl,  ere  set  of  sun.  .o*q 

Such  language  as  that  employed  by  Mr.  Carleton  cannot  assail  them. 
Like  the  turbulent  little  stream  that  hurls  itself  against  the  granite  base 
of  some  great  Alp,  have,  through  all  past  time,  the  opponents  of  the 
philanthropist  and  reformer  of  every  field,  wasted  their  strength  in  the 
vain  attempt  to  outwit  Eternal  Justice  (or,  as  in  the  case  of  Carleton, 
to  strive,  through  ignorance,  to  accomplish  what  others  attempt 
through  wickedness  and  malice).  '  -■».•■•  < 

But  the  heart  of  Man  is  not  wholly  bad,  and  the  great  alp  of  Justice 
will  still  rear,  as  now,  its  spotless  crest  above  the  sea  of  leaden  clouds 
to  greet  the  fast-approaching  dawn,  when  the  tiny,  turbulent  stream, 
which  frets  against  its  granite  foot  to-day.  shall,  in  the  majestic  march 
of  centuries,  have  been  dried  up  within  its  shallow  bed,  and  "the  place 
which  knew  it,  once,  shall  know  it  no  more,  "  forever. 


^Sr^^Skg^- 


The  Vice-President  (also  Director)  "A'ew  England  Anti-Vivisection  Society,"  Boston,  U.  S.  A.; 
Honorary  and  Life  Member  "Victoria  St.   Society  for  Protecting   Animals  from  Vivisection,"  London; 
Honorary  Member  "London  Anti-Vivisection  Society,"  London,  etc.,  etc. 
I 


IMPORTANT   CORRESPONDENCE  WITH 

CANON     WILBERFORCE    ON 

VIVISECTION. 

The  following  correspondence,  arising  out  of  the  annual 
meeting  of  The  Victoria  Street  Society,  is  reported  from  the 
Zoophilist : 

40,  Wimpole  Street,  W.,  June  23rd,  1892. 

Sir  : — In  The  Times  of  to-day  appears  an  account  of  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Society  for  the  Protection  of  Animals 
from  Vivisection.  It  is  there  stated  that  in  moving  the  adop- 
tion of  the  report  you  characterized  vivisectors  as  "  human 
devils."  If  this  be  a  correct  version  of  the  words  you  em- 
ployed, you  have  placed  yourself  under  an  obligation  either  to 
substantiate  or  to  withdraw  and  apologize  for  this  expression. 

By  vivisectors  can  only  be  meant  the  class  of  physiological 
investigators  engaged  in  experimentation  upon  animals.  These 
investigators  are  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  such  experi- 
mentation, not  only  for  the  advancement  of  medical  science, 
but  for  the  elucidation  of  the  phenomena  of  Nature  upon  which 
human  progress  depends.  In  this  conviction  physiologists  are 
supported  by  the  highest  intellects  of  the  world,  including,  with 
scarcely  an  exception,  the  great  mass  of  scientific  experts  who 
are  alone  fully  qualified  to  form  a  correct  judgment  in  such  a 
matter.    . 

The  cultivation  of  science,  as  it  is  pursued  by  the  physiologi- 
cal investigator,  demands  the  utmost  devotion  and  willingness 
to  endure  self-sacrifice.     The  one  aim  must  be  to  elicit  truth 


8  IMPORTANT    CORRESPONDENCE 

for  truth's  sake  ;  such  labor  is  very  seldom  in  any  worldly 
sense  remunerative,  and  rarely  gains  either  applause  or  popu- 
larity. Those  who  have  the  privilege  of  the  friendship  of 
practical  physiologists,  and  are  best  able  to  estimate  their 
individual  worth,  must  feel  deep  indignation  to  find  men  among 
the  select  few  in  modern  society  that  lead,  in  every  sense  of 
the  word,  noble  lives,  stigmatized  in  the  terms  you  are  stated 
to  have  employed.  Those  terms  are  uncharitable,  unjust  and 
libellous.  Their  spirit  is  entirely  opposed  to  the  teaching  of 
Christianity  and  of  that  Church  in  which  you  hold  so  distin- 
guished a  position. 

I  am,  Sir,  yours  faithfully, 

Henry  Sewill. 
To  the  Rev.  Canon  Wilberforce. 


Deanery,  Southampton,  June  27th,  1892. 
Sir  : — The  quotation  from  The  Times  to  which  you  refer, 
consisting  of  two  words  only,  is  obviously  a  mcst  unfair  report 
of  an  entire  speech.  I  did  not  say,  in  that  indiscriminate 
manner,  that  all  persons  who  practiced  visisection  were  "  hu- 
man davils."  I  am  aware  that  many  apparently  succeed  in 
escaping  moral  contamination  from  the  atrocious  deeds  they 
do  in  the  name  of  science,  and  I  am  prepared  to  take  your 
word  for  it  that  persons  capable  of  inflicting  excruciating  tor- 
tures upon  helpless  animals,  live,  in  other  respects,  "  noble 
lives."  I  did  say,  and  I  emphatically  reiterate  it,  that  persons 
who  were  capable  of  doing  certain  deeds,  which  I  enumerated, 
such,  for  example,   as   leaving  a  dog  crucified  to  the  torture- 


FROM    CANON    WILBERFORCE.  J 

trough,  kept  alive  by  artificial  respiration,  in  agony  unspeakable, 
throughout  the  long  hours  of  the  night,  and  sometimes  from 
a  Saturday  to  a  Monday,  while  they  themselves  retired  to  the 
rest  and  comfort  of  their  own  homes,  hoping  to  find  their  sub- 
ject alive  for  further  experiment  upon  their  return  to  the  labo- 
ratory, were  acting  as  "  inhuman  devils."  I  do  not  stand  alone 
in  the  opinion.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Haughton  (Question  1888, 
Royal  Commission,  1876)  said  :  "  I  would  shrink  with  horror 
from  accustoming  large  classes  of  young  men  to  the  sight  of 
animals  under  vivisection.  .  .  .  Science  would  gain 
nothing,  and  the  world  would  have  let  loose  upon  it  a  set  of 
young  devils  ' ' 

You  say  that  the  spirit  of  my  statement  is  "  entirely  opposed 
to  the  teaching  of  Christianity,"  etc.  I  reply  that  the  so- 
called  "  cultivation  of  science,"  as  it  is  practiced  by  the  physi- 
ological investigators,  "is  entirely  opposed  to  the  teaching  of 
Christianity,"  is  based  upon  the  rankest  materialism,  and 
appeals  to  the  lowest  instincts  of  man  ;  and,  as  to  "the  Church 
in  which  )  hold  a  position,"  etc.,  I  thank  God  that  some  of  its 
most  eminent  representatives  have  organized  within  it  a  league 
for  the  "total  abolition  of  the  practice  of  vivisection."  And 
the  Bishop  of  Manchester,  himself  no  tyro  in  science,  preach- 
ing on  behalf  of  this  league,  exposes  himself  to  your  "deep 
indignation,"  for  he,  too,  stigmatizes  vivisectors  as  men  "  who 
use  God's  dumb  creatures  as  the  subjects  of  tortures  which 
could  only  be  called  diabolical,  and  who  gain  their  knowledge 
by  the  degradation  of  their  moral- character,"  and  with  these 
sentiments  I  cordially  agree. 

Our  contention  is  that  the  public  has  been  blinded  by  scien- 


10 


IMPORTANT    CORRESPONDENCE 


tific  dust  thrown  into  its  eyes,  and  that  multitudes  are  wholly 
unaware  of  the  unspeakable  and  fiendish  cruelties  that  are 
perpetrated  in  the  name  of  science. 

The  public  is  taught  to  believe  that  vivisections  are  rare, 
that  animals  subjected  to  them  are  under  anaesthetics,  and 
that  the  discoveries  made  by  the  process  are  of  infinite  value. 
The  public  has  not  realized  that  three  thousand  doctors  signed 
a  memorial  declaring  that  an  important  series  of  experiments 
could  not  be  carried  through  while  animals  are  under  anaes- 
thetics, that  the  arch-vivisector,  Schiff,  has  been  honest  enough 
to  say,  "  It  is  nothing  but  hypocrisy  to  wish  to  impose  on  ones- 
self  and  others  the  belief  that  the  curarised  animal  does  not 
feel  pain."  • 

Let  us  glance  at  some  of  these  so-called  "  experiments  " 
and  judge  whether  men  endowed  with  ordinary  sensibilities 
and  imaginations  could  perform  them  without  temporarily 
transforming  themselves  into  "  inhuman  devils."  They  in- 
clude baking,  freezing,  burning,  pouring  boiling  oil  on  living 
animals,  saturating  them  with  inflammable  oil  and  setting 
them  on  fire,  starving  to  death,  skinning  alive,  cutting  off  the 
breasts  while  giving  milk,  gouging  out  the  eyes,  larding  the 
feet  with  nails,  forcing  broken  glass  into  ears,  intestines  and 
muscles,  making  incisions  in  the  skull  and  twisting  about  a 
bent  needle  in  the  brain,  etc.,  (vide  "The  Nine  Circles,"  Swan, 
Sonnenschien  &  Co.,  Paternoster  Square,  in  which  chapter 
and  verse  are  given  for  every  experiment  described,  and  a 
careful  perusal  of  which  will  provide  abundant  justification  for 
the  expression  of  which  you  complain). 

One  of  these  "practical  physiologists,"  whom  you  estimate 


FROM    CANON    W1LBERFOKCE.  II 

so  highly,  desired  recently  to  ascertain  whether  it  was  possible 
to  pour  molten  lead  into  a  man's  ear  when  drunk  without 
causing  him  to  shriek.  For  this  purpose  he  procured  several 
dogs,  and  the  report  says,  "  he  administered  an  anaesthetic 
composed  of  a  solution  of  chloral  and  morphine,  to  reduce  the 
dog  to  the  supposed  condition  of  a  drunken  man.  In  spite 
of  this  precaution  it  appears  that  when  the  molten  lead  pene- 
trated the  ear  of  one  of  the  animals,  accompanied  by  a  friz- 
zling sound,  the  wretched  beast  struggled  violently,  and  its 
howls  were  so  dreadful  that  even  the  garcons  du  laboratoire, 
accustomed  as  they  are  to  painful  spectacles,  were  strongly 
affected." 

The  second  dog,  though  similarly  anaesthetised,  was  so 
horribly  tortured  that  it  actually  burst  the  thongs  which  bound 
it  to  the  torture-trough. 

Again,  could  anyone  but  an  "  inhuman  devil  "  perform  the 
following? — 

'•  At  the  late  Medical  Congress,  held  in  Berlin,  a  Chicago 
Professor  performed,  before  the  assembled  doctors,  some  ex- 
periments upon  a  dog.  A  French  journal,  in  describing  it, 
says  that  the  Professor  roared  out,  '  Hand  me  over  that  dog!' 
The  unfortunate  animal  was  brought  into  the  room,  carefully 
muzzled,  and  with  its  legs  tied  down.  The  Professor  then 
proceeded  to  pump  the  poor  beast  full  of  sulphurretted  hydro- 
gen gas.  '  Now,  gentlemen,'  he  shouted,  '  the  gas  will  issue 
from  his  mouth  in  a  stream,  and  I  will  set  fire  to  it!'  A 
lighted  match  was  set  to  the  dog's  mouth,  with  no  result, — a 
second,  a  third,  a  whole  box  full,  and  nothing  came  out  of  it 
but  burning  the  hair  on  the  dog's  jaws.     Then  came  the  second 


12  IMPORTANT  CORRI SPONDENCE 

part  of  the  experiment.  '  Now,  gentlemen,'  said  the  Profes- 
sor, '  you  will  see  the  effect  when  the  gas  has  been  pumped 
into  the  bowels  when  they  have  been  wounded.'  He  then 
produced  a  loaded  revolver  and  fired  a  bullet  into  the  wretched 
animal's  abdomen.  The  dog  yelled  piteously,  and  the  bleeding 
creature  was  subjected  to  a  repetition  of  the  gas  injection. 
The  rest  of  the  story  was  too  horrible  to  tell,  even  in  the  pages 
of  an  English  medical  journal." — Philadelphia  Ledger,  Dec. 
16th,  1890. 

The  list  of  Dr.  Brown-Sequard  and  M.  Chauveau's  experi- 
ments on  the  spinal  marrow  are  too  terrible  to  describe  in  ex- 
tenso.     The  following  will  serve  as  a  sample  : — 

"  To  ascertain  the  excitability  of  the  spinal  marrow,  and 
the  convulsions  and  pain  produced  by  that  excitability,"  the 
studies  were  made  chiefly  on  horses  and  asses,  who,  he  says, 
"  lend  themselves  marvellously  thereto  by  the  large  volume  of 
their  spinal  marrow."  M.  Chauveau  accordingly  "consecrated 
80  subjects  to  his  purpose."  "The  animal,"  he  says,  "is 
fixed  on  a  table.  An  incision  is  made  on  its  back  of  from  30 
to  35  centimetres  ;  the  vertebrae  is  opened  with  the  help  of  a 
chisel,  mallet  and  pincers,  and  the  spinal  marrow  is  exposed." 

Several  experiments  similar  to  the  foregoing  are  described. 
In  some  the  spinal  marrow  was  burnt  through  with  red-hot 
wire.  The  electrical  stimulation  was  increased.  The  spinal 
marrow  tetanized  (/.  e.,  convulsed)  during  three  minutes.  The 
vagus  several  times  stimulated.  The  operations  on  the  rabbit 
extended  over  eleven  days.  The  wound  in  the  back  had  sup- 
purated and  the  stimulation  of  the  exposed  nerves  was  added 
to  by  electrodes  being  fastened  to  each  hind  leg,  causing  teta- 


FROM    CANON    WILBERFORCE.  1 3 

nus  (/'.  e.,  convulsions)  of  the  back  extremities." — Pfluger's 
Archives,  1888,  pp.  303,  et  seq.  Again.  "  Fifty-one  dogs  had 
portions  of  the  brain  hemisphere  washed  out  of  the  head 
which  had  been  pierced  in  several  places.  This  was  repeated 
four  times,  the  mutilated  creatures  and  their  behaviour  having 
been  studied  for  months.  Most  of  the  animals  died  at  last  of 
inflammation  of  the  brain"  (p.  415).  "  '  Interesting  experi- 
ment' "  on  a  delicately  formed  little  bitch  ;  left  side  of  brain 
extracted  ;  wire  pincers  on  the  hind  feet.  Doleful  whining  ; 
the  little  animal  began  again  to  howl  piteously ;  soon  after- 
wards foamed  at  the  mouth"  (p.  417).  "The  same  dog  last 
operated  upon  on  the  15th  October ;  since  then,  blind;  died  on 
November  10th.  The  dissected  brain  resembled  a  lately- 
hoed  potato  field  "  (p.  418).  "Little  bitch  last  operated  upon 
on  the  26th  of  May,  and  made  nearly  blind  ;  died  on  the  7th 
of  July." 

Do  you  imagine  that  I  should  consider  myself  under  an 
obligation  to  apologize  for  stigmatizing  the  dastardly  perpe- 
trator of  the  following  abomination  an  "  inhuman  devil?  " 

Prof.  Goltz  says  that  it  was  "marvellous  and  astonishing"  to 
find  that  a  dog  that  had  served  for  some  seven  experiments,  and 
whose  hind-quarters  were  completely  paralyzed,  and  whose  spinal 
marrow  had  been  destroyed,  the  animal  suffering  besides  from 
fatal  peritonitis,  was  still  capable  of  maternal  feelings  for  its 
young.  "  She  unceasingly  licked  the  living  and  the  dead 
puppy,  and  treated  the  living  puppy  with  the  same  tenderness 
as  an  uninjured  dog  might  do." — Pfluger's  Archives,  (Vol. 
IX,  p.  564). 

I  contend  that  the  language  does  not  exist  in  which  it  would 


14  IMPORTANT  CORRESPONDENCE 

be  possible  to  be  "  uncharitable,  unjust  and  libellous,"  in 
speaking  of  such  "  a  labor  to  elicit  truth  for  truth's  sake." 

For  Paul  Bert's  reports  of  his  disgusting  experiments  in 
amputating  the  breasts  of  a  goat  and  other  animals,  see 
Comptes  de  la  Societe  de  Biologie  (Paris,  1883;  p.  193). 

"  I  wrote,"  he  says,  "to  communicate  to  the  Society  the 
results  that  I  have  obtained  by  the  ablation  of  mammae  in 
animals.  Dogs  and  rabbits  with  their  six  or  eight  mammae, 
are  unable  to  survive  these  experiments." 

I  certainly  do  not  envy  you  "  the  privilege  of  the  friendship 
of  practical  physiologists,"  such  as  these. 

Perhaps  you  will  say  that  these  experiments  were  performed 
by  foreigners,  and  not  by  the  "  select  few  in  modern  society 
that  lead,  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  noble  lives."  Then  let 
me  refer  you  to  the  report  of  "The  Royal  Humane  Society," 
1865,  pp.  31-66,  for  an  English  experiment,  which  is  only  one 
out  of  thousands. 

"  Experiment  19.  A  terrier  was  deprived  of  air  by  plunging 
its  head  into  liquid  plaster  of  Paris ;  respiratory  efforts  com- 
menced at  one  minute  thirty-five  seconds,  and  ceased  at  four 
minutes,  the  heart  beating  till  five  minutes.  On  examining 
the  lungs,  the  white  plaster  was  found  throughout  the  bronchial 
tubes."  Seventy-six  of  these  experiments  were  made." — Report 
of  the  Royal  Humane  Society,  1865,  pp.  31-66. 

And  the  following  : — Dr.  Angel  Money  reported  a  series  of 
experiments  in  which  he  irritated  the  brain  and  intestines  of 
a  number  of  "  anaesthetised,  curarised  animals,"  by  electric- 
ity, sliced  away  their  brains  and  made  "windows"  in  their 
bowels. — British  Medical  Journal,  August  4th,  1883. 


FROM    CANON    WTLBERFOKCif.  1 5 

Dr.  Bradford,  of  University  College,  London,  has  mutilated 
the  kidney  of  dogs.  Firstly,  he  removed  a  portion  of  one 
kidney,  which  operation  must  necessarily  be  of  an  exceed- 
ingly painful  nature.  At  intervals,  varying  from  a  fortnight  to 
six  weeks,  the  entire  other  kidney  was  also  removed,  thus 
leaving  the  animal  with  only  a  portion  of  kidney.  After  the 
second  operation,  the  animal  became  emaciated,  and  died  at  a 
period  varying  according  to  the  size  of  the  remnant  of  kidney 
remaining.  Sometimes  the  dogs  lived  a  fortnight,  sometimes 
six  weeks. — Proceedings  of  Physiological  Society,  March  21st, 
1891. 

The  following  quotation  from  Mr.  R.  T.  Reid's  speech  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  April  4th,  1883,  refers  to  English 
experiments; — "I  will  take  one  instance  from  certain  ex- 
periments performed  by  Professor  Rutherford,  and  reported 
in  the  British  Medical  Journal.  I  refer  to  the  series  of 
experiments  commenced  December  14th,  1878.  These  ex- 
periments were  31  in  number;  no  doubt  there  were  hundreds 
of  dogs  sacrificed  upon  other  series  of  experiments,  but  now 
I  am  only  referring  to  one  set,  beginning,  as  I  say,  on  the  14th 
December,  1878.  There  were,  in  this  set,  31  experiments, 
but  no  doubt  many  more  than  31  dogs  were  sacrificed.  All 
were' performed  on  dogs,  and  the  nature  of  them  was  this  : 
The  dogs  were  starved  for  many  hours.  They  were  then 
fastened  down;  the  abdomen  was  cut  open  ;  the  bile  duct  was 
dissected  out  and  cut ;  a  glass  tube  was  tied  into  the  bile 
duct  and  brought  outside  the  body.  The  duct  leading  to  the 
gall-bladder  was  then  closed  by  a  clamp,  and  various  drugs 
were  placed  into  the  intestine  at  its  upper  part.     The  result  of 


l6  IMPOTRANT    COKRESPONDENCE 

these  experiments  was  simply  nothing  at  all — 1  mean  it  led  to 
no  increase  of  knowledge,  whatever;  and  no  one  can  be 
astonished  at  that,  because  these  wretched  beasts  were 
placed1  in  such  circumstances — their  condition  was  so  ab- 
normal— that  the  ordinary  and  universally  recognized  effect 
of  well-known  drugs  was  not  produced.  These  experiments 
were  performed  without  anaesthetics — the  animals  were  ex- 
perimented upon  under  the  influence  of  a  drug  called  curare. 
And  now,  Sir,  what  "  phenomena  of  Nature  upon  which 
human  progress  depends"  have  been  elucidated  by  these 
brutal  and  degrading  tortures  ?  What  victory  over  disease 
can  your  "  scientific  experts,"  who,  you  say,  "  are  alone 
fully  qualified  to  form  a  correct  judgment  in  such  a  matter," 
point  to,  as  the  result  of  vivisection?  Can  they  cure  cancer, 
consumption,  scrofula  or  lupus  ?  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  the 
boasted  discoveries  of  one  year  are  the  ludibrium  of  the  next? 
In  spite  of  the  unspeakably  cruel  experiments  of  Professor 
Ferrier,  your  "  scientific  experts  "  do  not  even  yet  know  the 
true  function  of  the  cerebellum,  and  the  experiments  of  one 
physiologist  are  often  pronounced  by  another  to  be  utterly  use- 
less. Harvey  testifies,  himself,  that  the  discovery  of  the  cir- 
culation of  the  blood  was  due  to  anatomy,  and  not  to  vivi- 
section. Some  of  the  most  skilful,  living  operators  have  told 
me  that  their  skill  was  obtained  by  dissection  of  the  cadaver, 
and  not  by  vivisection.  Sir  Thomas  Watson  told  me,  him- 
self, that  it  was  constantly  necessary  to  unlearn,  at  the  bed- 
side, the  lesson  taught  in  the  laboratory.  Majendie's  holo- 
caust of  victims  resulted  in  the  disastrous  failure  when  his 
conclusions  were  tested  on  the    human  body.     What  has  hu- 


FROM    CANON  WILBhRFORCE.  I  7 

manity  gained  from  the  unparalleled  cruelties  of  Koch,  who 
is  compelled  to  keep  a  special  crematorium  to  dispose  of  the 
corpses  of  his  victims ;  or  from  the  so-called  discoveries  of 
Pasteur,  who  has  apparently  succeeded  in  producing  a  new 
form  of  disease,  rabbies  paralysis  ?  The  report  signed  by 
Sir  J.  Paget,  Sir  J.  Lister,  Dr.  Burdon  Sanderson  and 
others,  informs  us  that,  "  under  the  intensive  method,  deaths 
have  occured  under  conditions  which  have  suggested  that 
they  were  due  to  the  inoculations  rather  than  to  infection 
'from  rabid  aniinals."  At  Milan  three  men  died  of  rabies 
after  treatment  at  the  Instituto  Robico,  and  the  dog  by  which 
they  were  bitten  was  declared  by  Prof.  Pasteur,  himself, 
not  to  have  been  rabid!  Professor  Peter  says,  "  M.  Pasteur 
does  not  cure  rabies, — he  gives  it."  And  in  The  Times  (No- 
vember 16th,  1888),  I  read  that  "  In  the  case  of  one  man 
sent  over  to  Paris  from  this  country,  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  the  hydrophobia  from  which  he  died  was  rather  the 
result  of  his  inoculation  than  the  original  bite." 

You  say  "the  investigators  are  convinced  of  the  necessity 
of  such  experimentation."  I  reply  that  an  increasing  num- 
ber of  intelligent  Englishmen,  undeterred  by  what  has  been 
well  termed  (I  believe  by  the  late  Lord  Shaftesbury)  "  the 
insolence  of  physiological  science,"  are  convinced  of  the 
iniquity,  the  uselessness,  and  the  peril  to  the  human  race 
of  such  experimentation,  and  they  are  determined  to  do 
their  utmost  to  render  the  practice,  in  this  country,  at  least, 
wholly  illegal. 

I  am,  Sir,  yours  faithfully, 

Basil  Wilberforce. 
The  Zoophilist, — London,  July,   1892. 


FAIRLY  CORNERED. 

The  following  is  quoted  literally,  without  comment, 
from  Anti-  Vivisection  for  April,  1896. 

"An  occasional  correspondent,  who  was  present  at  the 
State  House  upon  the  hearing  of  the  Massachusetts 
bill,  writes  as  follows  : 

"  Perhaps  the  quibbling  propensity  of  vivisectors  has 
never  more  plainly  appeared  than  during  Mr.  Philip  G. 
Peabody's  cross-examination  of  Dr.  Henry  Bowditch 
and  Assistant  Professor  William  T.  Porter.  Mr.  Pea- 
body's  point  of  attack  was  the  specific  statement  that 
no  painful  vivisection  had  occurred  at  Harvard,  made 
in  the  now  notorious  manifesto  published  in  The  Tran- 
script, of  Boston,  on  July  13th,  last,  written  and  signed 
by  Assistant  Professor  Porter,  and  vouched  for  by 
five  other  worthies,  one  of  whom  was    Dr.  Bowditch. 

'•Dr.  Bowditch  claimed  that  this  statement  was 
not  made  in  the  paper,  and  that  the  previous  part 
of  the  paragraph  showed  this,  whereupon  Mr.  Peabody 
read  the  entire  paragraph,  which  we  reproduce  below, 
mere'y  remarking,  that  the  first  part  of  it  has  no  more 
to  do  with  the  denial  of  painful  vivisection,  which  is 
certainly  specific  and  precise,  than  the  man  in  the 
moon. 


FAIRLY    CORNERED.  19 

"  The  third  class  of  vivisections  is  that  in  which  no 
narcotic  is  given.  Many  operations  require  no  anaes- 
thetic, because  they  inflict  little  or  no  pain.  An  ex- 
ample is  the  injection  of  diphtheria  toxine  into  horses, 
in  order  that  the  serum  of  their  blood  may  be  used  to 
destroy  the  diphtheria  bacillus  in  the  very  tissues  of  the 
sick.  Other  operations  of  this  class  do  cause  pain. 
Painful  vivisections,  when  made  at  all,  are  made  for  the 
sake  of  determining  functions  that  were  temporarily 
suspended  by  narcotics.  Here  truth  is  gained  at  the 
expense  of  suffering,  because  there  is  no  other  way. 
Such  investigations  are  rare.  None  such  have  been 
made  in  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  within  our  know- 
ledge.      [Italics  are  ours.].  -     .         X^&?:     - 

"The  situation  was  very  embarrassing  to fcrreiwitnesses j  ■ 
they  both  tried  to  show ;  that £tbe::Tmeajting.  jof  tire:  'sejfc& 
tences,  which  we  have  printed  in  italics,  was  changed 
by  the  previous  part  of  the  paragraph  ;  finally,  Dr. 
Bowditch  showed  a  disposition  to  beg  off,  claiming  that 
although  he  had  vouched  for  the  article,  he  had'  not 
written  it. 

"When  Assistant  Porter's  tur'n  came,  he  took  his  cue 
from  Dr.  Bowditch  ;  but  Mr.  Peabody,  thereupon,  for 
the  second  time,  read  the  entire  paragraph,  whereupon 
Assistant  Porter  took  the  other  horn  of  the  dilemma, 
and  without  admitting,  in  a  straightforward  way,  that  he 
was  trapped,  began  to  claim  that  the  many  agonizing 
experiments  which    he   confessed  having  made,  in    the 


20 


FAIRLY  CORNERED. 


"Journal  of  Physiology,"  without  the  use  of  anaesthet- 
ics (except  at  certain  parts  of  the  experiment,  to  pre- 
vent struggling),  were  not  really  painful,  because  he 
had  used  anaesthetics,  which,  however,  in  his  own  ac- 
count, he  did  not  claim,  except  as  stated  ;  the  fact,  of 
course,  being  that  his  original  account  in  the  "  Journal 
of  Physiology"  was  true,  that  anaesthetics  were  not 
used,  throughout,  and  that  he  claimed  to  have  used 
them,  because  confronted  with  his  denial  of  all  painful 
vivisection  ;  this  view  of  the  case  is  borne  out  by  ad- 
mission that  his  rabbit  was  "  very  lightly  chloralised, 
not  over  one-tenth  gram" — which  would  be  unnecessary 
if  it  was  anaesthetised. 


"It  must  have  been  a  humiliating  experience  for  these 
two  men,  in  the  presence  of  five  hundred  people,  to 
have  their  scientific  forgetfulness  thus  made  evident." 


I.  Vivisection  is  the  cutting,  burning,  boiling, 
and  general  mutilation  and  torture  of  living  ani- 
mals, and  is  usually  done,  as  is  freely  and  un- 
equivocally confessed  by  the  vivisectors  themselves, 
on  animals  entirely  sentient,  and  without  the  use 
of  anaesthetics. 

II.  It  is  objectionable  because : 

(1st.)  The  number  of  animals  thus  tortured,  in- 
stead of  being  small,  is  to  be  reckoned  by  the  tens 
of  thousands,  a  single  vivisector,  (Majendie)  hav- 
ing thus  tortured,  without  anaesthetics,  nine  thou- 
sand (9,000)  dogs,  in  a  single  experiment,  one  of 
the  most  acutely  agonizing  known  to  science. 

(2d.)  The  agony  of  the  animals  (horses,  dogs, 
cats,  rabbits,  guinea  pigs  and  monkeys)  is  not  less- 
ened by  anaesthetics,  in  many  cases. 

(3d.)  The  results  of  these  appalling  crimes  are 
not  of  value  to  the  healing  art,  but  are  unspeakably 
injurious  in  leading  men  astray,  animals  differing 
so  from  men  that  conclusions  from  one  to  the 
other  are  frequently  erroneous. 

(4th.)  It  also  depraves,  and,  as  experience  with 
even  men  of  supposed  character  has  demonstrated, 
it  renders  grossly  untruthful  the  men  who  practice  it. 

(5th.)  It  has  already  led  to  the  open  and  un- 
equivocal demand  for  human  victims  in  this  coun- 
try, and  nothing  but  the  hypocrisy  and  cowardice 
of  the  vivisectors  prevents  them  from  demanding 
human  beings  for  vivisection,  universally.  When 
they  make  this  demand  they  admit  experiments  on 
animals  to  be  useless  and  misleading ;  at  all  other 
times,  however,  they  claim  valuable  results  from 
such  experiments,  at  least  in  this  country.  Pet 
cats  and  dogs  are  systematically  stolen  for  this  pur- 
pose. 

III.  Hundreds  of  eminent  men,  doctors,  sur- 
geons, physiologists,  scientists,  freely  admit  the 
truth  of  the  statements  herein  made. 

IV.  The  immediate  work  of  this  society  must  be 
to  inform  people  of  the  extent,  cruelty  and  useless- 
ness  of  these  terrible  crimes.  To  do  that  takes 
money  for  office  rent,  printing  and  postage. 

V.  We  request  all  lovers  of  justice  to  aid  this 
best  of  all  reforms  by  at  once  joining  this  society, 
and  also,  where  able,  to  donate  such  sums  of  money 
as  they  may  approve  to  the  work. 

'Associate  membership  is  $1.00 

Annual  "  **  5.00 

Life  "  "  100.00 


President  of  the  N.  E  Anti-Vivisection  Society, 
179a  Tremont  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


